Budgeting Your Honeymoon

Your honeymoon should be one of the most memorable times of your life next to your wedding, and there’s very good reason why the “honeymoon phase” is referred to as the time when you and your significant other are most in love – it’s a really special time, and this is why most new couples want their honeymoon to be perfect.

This presses many couples to spend far too much money on their honeymoon, and it’s usually money they don’t have.

Can you do perfect on a budget? Here’s how to approach your honeymoon on a budget and still get the full, memorable experience.

Honeymoon Savings

You should set up a honeymoon savings account long before you plan your actual honeymoon – for example, shortly after your engagement. If you do this, you’ll have more than enough money to plan the perfect honeymoon when the time comes, and you might even have some left over afterwards to start a family savings account or put down a security deposit on a place together.

Deciding on Time

The first thing you have to decide on for your honeymoon is time. For some couples, this is immediately after their wedding – but not always. Your honeymoon can be days, weeks or even months after your wedding.

For a honeymoon on a budget, keep in mind that holidays during peak times are more expensive – going “out of season” often means cheaper rates, and a proper holiday and honeymoon where you have time to enjoy the small things (and one another!) instead of a busy, touristy experience.

After time, decide on duration: How long are you going to stay? Some honeymoon experiences last as much as two weeks to a month. When you’re on a budget, cutting the experience down to a week can make it a lot cheaper.

Setting a Destination

Popular honeymoon destinations often include exotic ones like the Maldives, Fiji and Bora Bora – but these are amongst the most expensive places to go on holiday in the world and could blow your honeymoon budget right out of the water.

If you’re planning a honeymoon on a budget, there are excellent locations that have the same exotic feel, but will cost you a lot less. Places like these include Thailand, the Cook Islands, Puerto Rico or the Florida Keys.

You can also opt for local travel instead and go on a honeymoon road-trip somewhere you’ve both always wanted to go.

Experiencing the Sights

If you want to know where the best places are to go, you should ask the locals where to find the best music and food – locals often know of the cheapest places where they would normally go instead of the slightly more expensive places known to be frequented by other visiting couples.

Many of these places will also be cheaper out-of-season, and it means that you get the full experience of your honeymoon, it’s just a lot cheaper.

Booking Through a Travelling Agency

Booking a travel package for two through a travelling agency is often much cheaper than trying to arrange everything yourself: Travel agencies end up with the best prices on travel and accommodation, and booking through them means that it’ll cost you less in the long run.

With many travel packages, things like your travel, meals and entertainment might also be included in the price – again, it’s much cheaper than trying to arrange everything yourself on a budget that just won’t fit.

It happens to be a whole lot easier, too.

Combined Honeymooning

Do you know another couple who got married around the same time you did? If you’re doing your honeymoon on a particularly small budget, consider combined honeymooning – there are many couples this is a perfect idea for, especially if they have the same ideal destination for their honeymoon in mind and they manage to put their budget together.

The House-Swopping Honeymoon

Temporary house-swopping through platforms like AirBnb is huge business, and it could save you a lot of money on your honeymoon. Think that nobody will go for it? Think again. Thousands of people arrange accommodation-trading vacations on a budget every day, and there’s no reason why you can’t consider something similar for your honeymoon.

Eating on a Budget

Don’t rely on the tourist brochure to find out what’s good to eat. Just like finding the greatest live music and shopping spots in the area, ask the locals to find out where they go when the tourists aren’t around – this way, you’ll have a lot more time to focus on one another.

Cut the Photographer

In the days where most of photography is powered by Instagram, selfies and instant snapshots, do you really need to spend this much money on your photographer? Some hire a professional photographer for their honeymoon, and this can really eat into a budget that’s better spent enjoying the actual honeymoon with your partner; yes, a handful of selfies can mean more than a professional wedding photographer in ten years!

Driving Distance

Stay within driving distance of your accommodation. Not only is this safer when you don’t know the area, it also happens to be a whole lot cheaper. Budget Rental Car Coupons are good for in a lot of places, and can take a lot of the financial strain off your honeymoon.

Instead of making use of public transportation or taxi services while you’re on honeymoon (which can be extremely expensive), hire a car for a week instead. This way, you’re not nearly as limited by where you can travel – and things like Avis Rental Car Coupons can make your travelling a lot cheaper so you have more money left over for the fun stuff.

Don’t: Borrow Money

The worst thing you can do for a honeymoon is to borrow money that you don’t have on hand to do it; most couples who start off this way end up fighting about the money they spent on their honeymoon (or money in general) soon after their honeymoon ends.

Instead, postpone – or work on your budget and some of the tips above until your perfect honeymoon experience matches your current budget.